Author J.K. Rowling captured the world's imagination with her series of books featuring the adventures of young wizard Harry Potter. With this release from Questar, fans of the books are given the opportunity to learn about the factual information and locations featured in the stories as well as the literary and mythological influences. Narrated by actor Hugh Laurie, Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter: The Magic Behind the Young Wizard discusses such topics as the origins of the Philosopher's Stone, King Arthur, and a real school like the Hogwarts Academy.
The story of Thanksgiving, with its costumed Pilgrims, turkeys and pumpkin pie, zigzags through American history with some surprising twists. At the iconic Thanksgiving feast of 1621– no pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce was served, and that event was wiped from the history books for 200 years! In the 19th Century, some southern states thought Thanksgiving was an abolitionist plot and refused to celebrate it. Thanksgiving didn't become an annual national holiday until World War II! What started as a somber Puritan day of prayer is now about football and food. How did we get there? Join HISTORY as we serve up The Real Story of Thanksgiving.
Forget the big bang. The real moment of creation was the Cosmic Dawn - the moment of first light. This is the scientific version of the story of Genesis. The big bang gets all the credit for creating our universe. But in fact, the universe it gave was dark and boring. There were no stars, no galaxies, just a vast, black fog of gas - the cosmic dark ages. But, after a hundred million years of nothing, came a dramatic moment of transformation - the Cosmic Dawn. It's the moment the first stars were born, the moment that lit up the Universe, and made the first structure and the first ingredients of life. This was the real moment of creation. Astronomers are now trying to witness the cosmic dawn. For the first time they have the tools to explore the very first stars of the universe and to tell the scientific story of our creation.
What did Jesus look like? Artists, scholars and millions of Christians around the world have been pondering the question for centuries. The Real Face of Jesus? follows a team of graphic experts as they use cutting-edge 3D software to bring a holy relic known as the Shroud of Turin to life. Many believe Jesus Christ was buried in this ancient linen cloth, which bears traces of blood and the faint, ghostly image of a man. With the help of modern technology, can HISTORY finally unlock the secrets of one of the world’s most scrutinized and controversial artifacts? To attempt this feat, HISTORY turned to computer graphics artist Ray Downing of Studio Macbeth, who used photographs and digital animation to reconstruct Abraham Lincoln in 2009. As Ray and his team grapple with the task, we delve into the Shroud of Turin’s long history, along with the many perplexing questions that centuries of scientific research have failed to settle. How, for instance, did the figure’s imprint appear on the cloth? And how can we extract 3D information from a two-dimensional piece of linen?
Our large brains give us the evolutionary edge over other species, yet almost everything we've learned was handed down from our primal ancestors. We're able to solve complex problems and work together to build strong communities…but being so smart also means we sometimes cheat and steal to get what we want, indulge too much in life's pleasures, and don't always get along. Doesn't this sound familiar? We have far more in common with our primate cousins than we may think. As we delve more into their lives, what we're finding out is surprisingly human. THE REAL APES OF THE PLANET is an intimate view of our family - the primates – like you've never seen them before.
Did you know that the quaint custom of Christmas caroling actually began with drunk and rowdy revelers threatening people door to door looking for food and liquor? Early versions of the heartwarming legend of Santa Claus described him as a horrible devil named Krampus who beat and kidnapped naughty children. In America during the 17th and 18th Centuries, celebrating Christmas was against the law! There's a lot to tell about the history of Christmas, and a lot you may not know. Along the way, meet Ebenezer Scrooge and George Bailey, The Grinch and Rudolph, and learn the true origins of our Christmas traditions. So grab some eggnog and a slice of fruitcake as HISTORY un-wraps The Real Story of Christmas.